Convicted Of Drunken

Because of a reporter's error, a story on Tuesday's front page about the Florida Highway Patrol's targeting of habitual drunken drivers incorrectly stated that Timothy Bolen of Orange County had been convicted of drunken driving eight times. According to court records, Bolen has been charged with driving under the influence of alcohol eight times and convicted in four of the cases. In the other four cases, charges were reduced to reckless driving.

TAVARES -- Samuel Banks was given 20 years in prison to think about a 2004 drunken-driving accident that killed his half-brother. Circuit Judge G. Richard Singeltary imposed the prison term this week despite pleas for leniency from Banks' mother, brother and other family members and friends who say they don't blame him for the death of Tommy Prevatt, 44. A jury decided that Banks, 37, was drunk when driving a car that collided with a pickup May 21,...

Deja vu. John Denver is under investigation, again, for drunken driving after an accident that left him with head and facial cuts. Law enforcement officials in Colorado said deputies were called to a hospital after a man said he was injured in a traffic accident. The man was Denver, of ''Rocky Mountain High'' fame. Last September, Denver paid a $50 fine and sang at a benefit after he was convicted of drunken driving.

MIAMI -- Two fired America West pilots convicted of operating a jetliner while drunk were denied bail Thursday and must remain in jail until sentencing next month. Judge David Young ordered pilot Thomas Cloyd, 47, and co-pilot Christopher Hughes, 44, held at least another five weeks and set their sentencing hearing for July 20. He said he would issue his decision the next day.

Tristan Rogers, the Australian actor who played the character Robert Scorpio on the ABC soap opera General Hospital, faces up to six months in jail after being convicted of drunken driving.He is to be sentenced Feb. 10 in Beverly Hills, Calif., where he was convicted Wednesday.Rogers has a previous conviction for drunken driving, said Deputy District Attorney Bill Clark.

PENSACOLA -- A lawyer for a bar's new owners says they shouldn't have to pay a $4.6 million verdict against a prior owner for serving a drunken driver involved in a fatal crash. A jury Monday ruled for Andre Nguyen, 29, of Biloxi, Miss. His sister, Lan Nguyen, 22, was killed when the car in which she was a passenger was involved in a head-on collision in April 1996. The driver of the other car, Steven Romero, 50, had been drinking at Banana Bob's in nearby Pensacola Beach. He was convicted of drunken driving-manslaughter and is serving a six-year prison term.

The day after he was convicted of drunken driving, Mayor Hank Hardy decided Friday to drop his re-election campaign.''Although I never believed that I was guilty of DUI, I accept the verdict of the jury and the sentence of the court,'' Hardy, 35, wrote in a letter to The Orlando Sentinel.City Commission candidate Chris Mylett also dropped out of the Nov. 5 elections. Mylett said a new business endeavor forced him out of the race with District 1 incumbent Adrienne Perry.Perry will now go unchallenged.

Two Orlando police officers and one of their supervisors erred by letting Orlando Magic player Terry Catledge drive after he told them his license had been suspended for drunken driving, Police Chief Danny Wilson said Tuesday.''That was not a good decision,'' Wilson said. ''We've already talked to them about that. It was something they shouldn't have done.''Catledge has been ticketed for driving with a suspended license three times in the past eight months. In the most recent incident, Orlando police stopped Catledge about 10 a.m. Friday when they saw him driving so fast that he had to swerve into another lane as he rounded a corner on Goldwyn Avenue in his Mercedes Benz.

TAVARES -- Samuel Banks was given 20 years in prison to think about a 2004 drunken-driving accident that killed his half-brother. Circuit Judge G. Richard Singeltary imposed the prison term this week despite pleas for leniency from Banks' mother, brother and other family members and friends who say they don't blame him for the death of Tommy Prevatt, 44. A jury decided that Banks, 37, was drunk when driving a car that collided with a pickup May 21,...

People convicted of drunken driving would be required to carry special red drivers' licenses instead of having their licenses revoked if a law proposed by two Seminole County officials is adopted.Probation officer Derek Gallagher and Steven ''Woody'' Igou, an assistant state attorney, worked for months on their proposal aimed at keeping alcohol from people who abuse it.The two are hoping the Florida Legislature will consider their proposed Criminal Alcohol Probation Law. It would require people selling alcohol to check the driver's license of each customer rather than just those who appear to be minors, and to refuse to sell drinks to people with the red licenses.

Former FBI agent David Farrall was acquitted Monday of the most serious charges against him after a Broward jury was convinced he was drunk, but not that he was driving the wrong way on Interstate 95 when he got into a car crash three years ago that killed two men. The jury found Farrall guilty on two counts each of driving under the influence, driving with an unlawful blood alcohol level, and reckless driving. But the jury did not find Farrall guilty of causing the deaths of Maurice Williams and Craig Chambers in a head-on collision on I-95 in Pompano Beach.

PENSACOLA -- A lawyer for a bar's new owners says they shouldn't have to pay a $4.6 million verdict against a prior owner for serving a drunken driver involved in a fatal crash. A jury Monday ruled for Andre Nguyen, 29, of Biloxi, Miss. His sister, Lan Nguyen, 22, was killed when the car in which she was a passenger was involved in a head-on collision in April 1996. The driver of the other car, Steven Romero, 50, had been drinking at Banana Bob's in nearby Pensacola Beach. He was convicted of drunken driving-manslaughter and is serving a six-year prison term.

An Orange County judge who rammed her Volvo into the rear of a BMW two years ago was found guilty Saturday of drunken driving.Circuit Judge Linda Gloeckner was sentenced to serve a year of probation, pay $750 in fines and drive only on business for the next six months.Her five-day trial in Orlando ended after less than two hours of jury deliberations. Gloeckner, who shook her head after hearing the verdict, declined to comment.Seminole County prosecutors Eilam Isaak and Jack Kaleita faced an uphill fight after Seminole County Judge Fredric Hitt prohibited them from telling jurors that Gloeckner's blood-alcohol content had been measured at 0.17 percent.

Deja vu. John Denver is under investigation, again, for drunken driving after an accident that left him with head and facial cuts. Law enforcement officials in Colorado said deputies were called to a hospital after a man said he was injured in a traffic accident. The man was Denver, of ''Rocky Mountain High'' fame. Last September, Denver paid a $50 fine and sang at a benefit after he was convicted of drunken driving.

The white Ford Fairmont was weaving on and off the road, kicking up dirt as it headed south on U.S. Highway 441 at 1:30 a.m.Apopka police Sgt. Chuck Vavrek pulled over the driver outside a 7-Eleven and asked for his license. He didn't have one. It was the first step in a game of cat and mouse with John Doe, a man who left the Orange County Jail 14 hours later without giving his real name. In fact, he put two different names on his bond form.By the time it was over, Paul Ducret - a 54-year-old man convicted of drunken driving four times in the past 10 years - was back on the street.

Tristan Rogers, the Australian actor who played the character Robert Scorpio on the ABC soap opera General Hospital, faces up to six months in jail after being convicted of drunken driving.He is to be sentenced Feb. 10 in Beverly Hills, Calif., where he was convicted Wednesday.Rogers has a previous conviction for drunken driving, said Deputy District Attorney Bill Clark.

If supporters get their way, Osceola residents convicted of drunken driving could be forced to announce it to the world with bumper stickers that read ''Restricted License - DUI.''The Osceola County chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving has asked county judges Lawrence Davis and Ronald Legendre to consider the proposal that would require first-time DUI offenders to use the bumper stickers.The concept has been tried in other parts of the state and draws mixed opinions about its success in deterring alcohol-related accidents and deaths.

The Orange-Osceola state's attorney's office has come up with a creative way to deal with people who plead not guilty to drunken driving and then later are convicted in court.In addition to forcing them to serve time, do community service, pay a fine, lose their driver's licenses for six months, attend DUI school and put a stickers on their cars saying they have been convicted of drunken driving, the prosecutors have suggested these folks run advertisements in the newspaper. These would be letters to the public apologizing for drinking and driving.

Because of a reporter's error, a story on Tuesday's front page about the Florida Highway Patrol's targeting of habitual drunken drivers incorrectly stated that Timothy Bolen of Orange County had been convicted of drunken driving eight times. According to court records, Bolen has been charged with driving under the influence of alcohol eight times and convicted in four of the cases. In the other four cases, charges were reduced to reckless driving.

The day after he was convicted of drunken driving, Mayor Hank Hardy decided Friday to drop his re-election campaign.''Although I never believed that I was guilty of DUI, I accept the verdict of the jury and the sentence of the court,'' Hardy, 35, wrote in a letter to The Orlando Sentinel.City Commission candidate Chris Mylett also dropped out of the Nov. 5 elections. Mylett said a new business endeavor forced him out of the race with District 1 incumbent Adrienne Perry.Perry will now go unchallenged.